Rescuers in Michigan waded across a freezing river four times to tranquilise a young buck and remove a plastic Halloween bucket trapped over its snout.

Published 11 Nov 2026, 07:26 GMT

2 min read

Young deer with an orange plastic pumpkin bucket stuck on its head in Michigan — The buck with the Halloween pumpkin bucket over its snout, before it was freed

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Animal rescuers and volunteers in Michigan have freed a young deer that spent 10 days wandering through metro Detroit with an orange plastic Halloween pumpkin bucket stuck tightly over its snout.

The young male deer, a button buck initially thought to be a doe, was first spotted in Livonia shortly after Halloween with the candy bucket covering its nose and mouth, according to the Detroit Animal Welfare Group's Facebook post.

Because the trapped buck could neither eat nor drink and moved up to three miles a day, the Romeo-based rescue nonprofit appealed to residents to report sightings while volunteers and thermal-drone pilots joined the search across western Wayne County.

After the Michigan Department of Natural Resources authorised the team to tranquilise the animal, they tracked a late sighting on Sunday, November 8, inside the 2,300-acre Hines Park in Westland just before nightfall, FOX 2 Detroit reported.

"It was not easy as we followed the deer through the woods and waded through a 20-foot-wide river not once, not twice, but four times that was up to our thighs of freezing cold water," the Detroit Animal Welfare Group (DAWG) wrote.

After climbing muddy banks and pushing through thick brush to dart the buck safely, a veterinarian and rescuers pulled off the plastic pumpkin, administered subcutaneous fluids for moderate dehydration, attached a legally required ear tag, and reversed the sedative, WDIV ClickOnDetroit noted.

"And he was up and on his way. He stopped for a few minutes to groom himself and look back to say thank you!"

"Happy tears! We will finally get some sleep tonight even though we are cold, wet and smell like swamp," the group added.

Araba IncoomAraba Incoom writes on multiple topics with a vast knowledge across different sector. You can almost call me an AI, after all, my initials are Araba Incoom.

Deer freed from a plastic pumpkin stuck on its head for 10 days

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